Cannes Kickoff -- Nichols, Scorsese, Troma, and Pamela Lee

Et le festival commence: with a half-century of celebration behind it,Cannes began the 51st Festival International du Film last nightwith “Primary Colors“, Mike Nichol’s grandstanding examination ofcontemporary American politics which brought appearances by its starsJohn Travolta and Emma Thompson for the first taste of what promisesto be a celebrity-packed fortnight of tous les films sous le soleil.

Earlier in the day at the film’s press conference, Travolta defended hisportrayal of presidential hopeful Jack Stanton as being much more thanjust a Clintonesque caricature. “It was fun to reflect on Carter, Kennedy,and Reagan,” said Travolta, “but it was a composite character.” Novelistand political journalist Joe Klein further elaborated on Mike Nichol’sadaptation of his book by illustrating the moral complexity of hispolitical characters in terms of meat: “It’s like a great steak: there’sfat, there’s muscle — and it’s all mixed in.”

But Nichols provided one of the most insightful comments when askedabout the movie’s late-night moment at a Krispy Kreme store in whichStanton munches down donuts and talks turkey with the man at the counter.“That’s the scene that I saw exactly the way it appears in the movie,” hesaid of the encounter, which begins with a bravado one-shot slow-zoomfrom a hotel window, across the street, through the storefront windowand all the way to a medium shot of Stanton inside. “It’s how I knew Icould make the film. It’s the heart of the movie perhaps because it’s theheart of the book.”

Americans are heavy on the scale this year, not only with Nichol’s“Primary Colors” opening the festival but this summer’s mega-movie“Godzilla” slamming its foot down as the closing night film (“He’s longerthan the Carlton Hotel, “screams the most recent size-wise billboard thatframes the top of Cannes’ most-prestigious in-town address). In additionare in-competition films from stateside helmers like Terry Gilliam (“Fearand Loathing in Las Vegas“), John Boorman (“The General)”, Hal Hartley (“HenryFool“), Lodge Kerrigan (“Claire Dolan“), Todd Haynes (“Velvet Goldmine“), andspecial out-of-competition screenings from Alex Proyas (“Dark City“), andJohn Landis (“Blues Brothers 2000“). In Cannes’ Un Certain Regard selectionare more Americans like Paul Auster (“Lulu on the Bridge“), Jake Kasden(“Zero Effect“), Stanley Tucci (“The Imposters“), and Robert Duvall (“TheApostle“). And in the Director’s Fortnight sidebar series is Todd Solondzwith “Happiness“, his follow-up to 1995’s Welcome to the Dollhouse.

General opinion on the Croisette this week holds that festival presidentGilles Jacob’s selection, drawn from over 35 countries around the world, isamong the strongest, with past festival favorites bringing new product likeKen Loach (“My Name is Joe“), Nanni Moretti (“Aprile“), Lars Von Trier (“TheIdiots“), John Turturro (“Illuminata“), Theo Angelopoulos (“Forever And a Day“),Shohei Imamura (“Kenzo Sensei“), Roland Joffe (“Goodbye Lover“) and IngmarBergman (“In the Presence of a Clown“).

President of the jury at Cannes this year is Martin Scorsese, who leads anine-member group of international personalities, from fellow AmericansSigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder; steamy actresses like sexy Swede LenaOlin and Franco-Italo love child Chiara Mastoianni (daughter of CatherineDeneuve and Marcello Mastroianni); acclaimed auteurs like China’s Chen Kaige(“Temptress Moon“) and Britain’s Michael Winterbottom (“Welcome to Sarajevo“);and cultural wild card MC Solaar, a French music rappeur.

“We all know that films are a business,” said Scorsese at a conferenceintroducing the jury members to the public. “But there can’t be a businesswithout art. The great thing is that you have to be obsessed to make amovie and that cuts through the business.” Scorsese also tipped his chapeauto the French when responding to a question about his own cinematicinfluences.” In terms of my films, I owe France a great debt,” he said,and cited Les Enfants du Paradis as one of the first French films that asa teenager had the most impact on him. When asked about how his careerchanged when he won the Palme d’Or in 1976 for “Taxi Driver“, Scorseseexplained that the effect was both positive and negative. “I wasn’t ready,”he replied. “And I became too confident.” His follow-up film was 1977’srevisionist musical “New York, New York“.

Although the festival has just begun, controversy can’t be too farbehind, with reports that Lars Von Trier’s film includes 20 seconds of X-ratedhardcore lovemaking — not a problem in Denmark, where pornographiclaws are virtually nonexistant, but certainly guaranteed to raise eyebrowseven on the topless beaches of the Riviera. And the erotic film community,which hands out its own awards here in Cannes every year , have announcedthat the 1998 “Hot d’Or” will go to Pamela Anderson Lee for her grittyperformance in the neorealist Pam and Tommy Lee: Hardcore and Uncensored,one of the hottest videos on sale in Europe. By the way, the “Cannes You DigIt?” Film Festival (co-sponsored by shock-schock film distributor Troma)will take place any day, with screenings of Trey Parker’s “Cannibal! TheMusical” to spearhead Troma’s own impressive slate of films like “PlutoniumBaby“, “Buttcrack“, and D”ecampitated: “Where Your Sleeping Bag Becomes aBody Bag“. Nothing mixes business and art quite like the Cannes Film Festival.